In a game against an elite opponent like Oregon, it’s important to win on the margins. Doing the small things correctly can be the difference between pulling off the upset and falling just short.
Iowa found that out the hard way at a wet and rainy Kinnick Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Hawkeyes fell 18-16, thanks to a last-second game-winning field goal from Ducks kicker Atticus Sappington. The two-point margin of defeat is even more frustrating given the mistakes Iowa made in that game. A failed two-point conversion, a red zone fumble, and a bad snap leading to a safety early on all played a factor in the loss. The latter of those issues was a huge problem early in the game.
Iowa had bad snaps on each of its first two punts. Rhys Dakin was able to salvage the first one with a great snag to prevent something bad, but he had no chance on the second one. The snap was way out of reach for Dakin and rolled to the end zone, where Dakin smartly kicked it out of bounds to only give up a safety. Those two points ended up being super important in the game.
Kirk Ferentz spoke with the media at his weekly Tuesday media availability and was asked about the long snapping issues and whether or not he’s concerned about that position going forward.
Kirk Ferentz addresses long snapping issues
When asked about the long snapping issues against Oregon, Ferentz had this to say:
“Those are things that happen in sports. Obviously weather was a factor. You have to throw the ball in the rain, and it’s tougher. Snapping is ball is a little bit tougher, too. We’ve worked with wet balls, so it wasn’t like that was a foreign thing to us.
Sometimes it just doesn’t work the way you want, and things tend to go in cycles a little bit, too. Unfortunately, we had two bad snaps there. Nobody feels worse than the guy who did it, and he’s working hard to become more consistent.”
Ferentz’s assessment about the weather playing a factor is correct, as the pouring rain certainly doesn’t make long snapping any easier. The Hawkeyes are also breaking in a new long snapper in Bryant Worrell, who’s replacing longtime long snapper Luke Elkin. While Worrell has a lot of experience from his time at Boston College, snapping in a new system to a new punter takes a lot of reps to master.
That’s not to make excuses for Worrell, who would no doubt admit he needed to make some better snaps early in that game. But Iowa didn’t lose that game because of the snap issues. You win as a team and you lose as a team, and Iowa didn’t play well enough to get the job done against the Ducks. They’ll have a chance to get up off the mat in Hollywood this weekend against USC. And that weather should be a lot more friendly toward long snappers.
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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Iowa football addresses long snapping issues
Reporting by Zach Hiney, Hawkeyes Wire / Hawkeyes Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
